Instant Pot Pork Chops with Gravy

Another Instant Pot win! Super tender pork chops, yummy gravy.

Ingredients

olive oil

pork chops (boneless or bone in)

salt

pepper

garlic powder

1 cup beef broth

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons corn starch

1/4 cup cream or milk

Directions

1. Turn Instant Pot on Sauté setting. Season pork chops with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Sear  pork chops on both sides. Remove from pot.
2. Use 1/4 cup of the beef broth to deglaze the pot. Return pork chops to pot. Add remaining beef broth and soy sauce.
3. Set pot to Sealing. Push Manual and set for 8 minutes. When pressure cooking is finished, allow to natural release for 10 minutes.
4. Remove chops to serving plate. Turn pot on Sauté setting. Whisk corn starch and milk/cream together. Then whisk into broth to make gravy.

Instant Pot Beef Roast

Ingredients

2-3 pound beef roast

olive oil

Carrots

Beef broth

Worcestershire

Flour or cornstarch for gravy

Rub:

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon thyme

Directions

1.  Cut the roast into 4 pieces. This allows you to cook the roast much more quickly. Trim away extra fat.
2. Turn the Instant Pot on sauté setting. When the pan registers hot, add olive oil.  Mix rub ingredients together and rub into the roast pieces. Brown the roast pieces on all sides.
3. Transfer seared beef to a plate and deglaze the pan with some of the beef broth (or red wine, if you prefer). Add the beef back to the pot. 
4. Place carrots (baby carrots or big carrots cut into 2-3" pieces) on top of the roast. Add two cups of beef broth and a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce.
5.  Place the lid on the Instant Pot, and make sure the dial is set to Sealing. Press Manual and adjust timing to 35. 
6. When pressure cooking is complete, let natural release for 10 minutes before venting and removing the cover.
7. Remove the beef and carrots to a serving bowl. Make gravy directly in the pot and serve with mashed potatoes.

Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings

One of my early Instant Pot recipes, and I love it! Beats the crockpot version hands down. The original recipe comes from simplyhappyfoodie.com. I've modified a bit.

Ingredients

2 tsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Butter
1 1/2 lbs Chicken Thighs, and/or Breasts, cut in slightly larger than bite sized pieces
1 Bay Leaf
1 tsp Salt (more to taste)
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp Poultry Seasoning
4 sprigs Fresh Thyme, 2 tsp leaves (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1 4" sprig Fresh Rosemary, 2 tsp leaves, stripped off and minced (or 1 tsp dried & crushed)
1/2 tsp Sage, dried
1 small Onion, diced
1 cup Carrots, chopped (about 2 or 3 carrots)
1 cup Celery, chopped (2 stalks)
3 large cloves Garlic, pressed or minced (about 1 Tbsp)
1 large Potato, chopped
4 cups Chicken Broth, low sodium

Dumplings 
I just used one recipe of homemade biscuits:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/3 cup tablespoon vegetable oil

2/3 cups milk

Directions

1. Prepare the biscuits. I generally roll them a bit thinner than usual, probably about 1/2 inch.
2. Turn the pressure cooker on to the Sauté setting. When the pot is hot, add the olive oil and the butter. Then add the chicken in one layer and let cook a few minutes on one side. Then stir and cook a few more minutes, until there is just a bit of pink still visible.
3. Meanwhile, in a skillet on the stove, sauté the onion and garlic. Add the carrots. 
4. Add the bay leaf, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, thyme, rosemary, and sage. Cook for a minute to let the spices bloom.
5. Deglaze the skillet by adding a cup of chicken broth and stirring.
6. Add vegetable/broth mixture to the chicken and stir in the potatoes.
7. Add the dumplings on top.
8. Place the lid on the pot and lock in place. Turn the steam release knob to the sealing position.
9. Cancel the Sauté function. Press the Pressure Cook/Manual button (or dial) and then the + or - button (or dial) to select 7 minutes.
10. When the cooking cycle has finished, do a Controlled Quick Release of the steam/pressure. Start by using a wooden spoon or other long handled utensil to turn the steam release knob towards Venting, and start letting the steam out gradually. Do this several times, and back off if any of the sauce starts to spew out with the steam. Then open it all the way when you feel certain only steam will be coming out. It will take a couple of minutes to fully vent.

Classic Macaroni Salad

This comes from Ruth Wallace. Serves 5.

Ingredients

8 ounces elbow macaroni (about 1 3/4 cups)
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 cup chopped green or red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion

Directions

1. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water until completely cool.
2. Combine mayo, vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in macaroni, celery, bell pepper and onion. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Chicken Kebab Marinade

Ingredients

Use half for veggies and half for chicken.

• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil divided
• juice of 1 lemon divided
• 6 clove of garlic, chopped divided
• 2 tsp paprika divided
• 2 tsp thyme divided
• 4 tsp oregano divided
• 4 tsp salt divided
• 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Wheat Meat

This comes from our friend Cris Cisneros, who created this recipe through many iterations. The recipe is in his head, and he plays around with the spices and liquids a lot, but I'm including a good, basic version.

My favorite way to eat wheat meat is to cube it and sauté it, then eat it on a tortilla with tomatoes and lettuce. Cris gets a lot more inventive than I do. However you slice it, it's a great vegan protein source, and it's tasty!

This recipe makes approximately 9 pounds of wheat meat.

Ingredients

7 cups vital wheat gluten

70 ounces crushed or diced tomatoes

1 can chick peas

1/2 pound (plus an extra mushroom or two) mushrooms

1 1/2 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 tablespoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (don't use iodized salt)

6 cups chicken broth

Note: Feel free to go crazy with the spices to whatever type or degree your palate prefers. But do avoid leafy herbs like oregano or basil.

Directions

Mix

1. Measure gluten into a big (biggest you have) mixing bowl. A KitchenAid works best, but I don't have one of those, so I mix by hand.
2. Drain the chick peas (no need to rinse them).
3. In the Vitamix blender, blend 42 ounces of tomatoes with the chick peas until smooth.
4. Add spices to tomato mixture and blend.
5. Remove tomato mixture to separate container.
6. Add mushrooms and another 28 ounces of tomatoes to Vitamix and blend until smooth.
7. Mix the two tomato batches together.
8. Make a well in the gluten and add liquids, half at a time. Mix immediately.
9. Stirring first with a wooden spoon and then by hand, knead the mixture vigorously until it becomes the texture of raw hamburger. (Note: You can actually freeze the mixture at this point and bake later, if you want.)

Bake

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two cookie sheets (jelly roll style sheets with edges work great). Line first with aluminum foil, then a sheet of parchment paper over the top. (Note: take two sheets of aluminum foil that are a bit longer than the pan. One on top of the other, make a seam by folding over twice on one long edge, using about 1" folds. When you open it up, it will cover the cookie sheet nicely.)
2. Spread half of wheat meat mixture over each cookie sheet. (You'll need to pull the parchment paper flat periodically.)
3. Cook at 350 until bottom is browning. Check after 45 minutes and switch racks as necessary. (I ended up cooking for around an hour.)
4. Meanwhile, make 6 cups chicken broth.

Shape and Pressure Cook

1. When wheat meat is browned on the bottom, flip it onto a big cutting board. Trim and save the curvy edges and shape the rest into rectangles (3 or 4" x 7" is probably good, but you don't have to be super picky).
2. Fit wheat meat into pressure cooker. Put edge pieces on bottom, then stack rectangular pieces sideways. Pour broth over the top, making sure not to fill above the max fill line. (Mine fit nicely into a 6 quart instant pot.)
3. For a 6 quart instant pot, pressure cook for 60 minutes. (Be sure lever is set to "sealing." Hit Manual, then + up to 60.) Let the pot natural release on its own. (No need to turn lever to "venting.")

Finish

1. Remove the wheat meat from the pressure cooker and put in Ziploc bags while the wheat meat is still hot. (Note: As long as the pressure cooker is keeping the wheat meat hot, you don't have to rush to take it out right away. You just need to make sure to bag it while it's still hot.)
2. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate or freeze. 

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Original recipe is from Taste of Home. As usual, I have altered it.

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten (or an extra 1/4 cup whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t each ginger and nutmeg, 1/8 t ground cloves)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped

Directions

1. Mix together dry ingredients.
2. Mix eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry and add cranberries. Mix til combined.
4. 375 for 20 minutes or until done.